Off Grid Home › Forums › Technical Discussion › hybrid, off-grid, diesel generator › Re: hybrid, off-grid, diesel generator
elnavOff-grid users who acquire a back up generator should keep something in mind.
If they have a charger capable of charging at 100 Amps into a 12V battery bank only consumer 1200 watts plus about 10% for conversion losses. A 24V bank charging at 100A is 2400 watts and so forth. In many cases this is a small percentage of the total output most gensets are capable of and as a result the generator runs at a very wasteful fuel burn rate.
Marshall has the right idea with his genverters concept wher a very small generator is used that is just large enough to drive the available chargers.
The other thing that is rarely discussed by people wanting to go off-grid is the fact chargers must be matched to the battery bank size or you are likely to end up with battery problems. The cure is likely to be expensive.